Card game.



'uNrrnn s'rA'rns CARD GAME.

T o all 'whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES M. NICHOL- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bualo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card Games, of which the following' is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in playing cards and particularly to a pack of playing cards bearing characteristic data of distinctive value in the game for which the cards are adapted.

The main object of the present invention is the provision of a pack of cards, with each bearing both a numeral and a letter, the numerals' controlling and determining the value of the cards inplaying, and the letters serving to permit the assemblage of the cards to form words or sentences.

The invention in. the preferred form of detail will be described in the following specification, reference being had particularly to the accompanying drawings, in

whichv Figure l is a view of the distinctive cards of the pack, the duplicates being omitted. Fig. 2 is a view showing the use of three cards to form a Word. Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the cards arranged to form a sentence.

The cards 1 which may be of any suitable material, of any size, and of any edge outline, are preferably similar in size, 4shape I. and material to the usual playing card. LThe backs of the cards `may be ornamented asj desired, so long as they are similarly-marked, and the faces of the cards, aside from the necessary data hereinafter described, may

Y also be ornamented, though it is preferred that they be left plain, as shown. On the face of thevcards at diagonally opposite corners is inscribed a letter of the alphabet as 2, and a numeral as 3. The distinctive cards are twenty-seven in number,,bearing respectively the twenty-six letters of the alphabet and the numerals from one to ltwenty-six, the numeral on a card corresponding to the sequence number in the alphabet of the letter borne by that card, that is, the card bearing the letter A will have the numeral l, and the card bearing the letter E will have the numeralv 5, and so on.

In addition to the alphabetcards there is another card bearing in place of a letter the 4 Specification of Letters Patent. Application led February 4, 1913. Serial No. 746,130.

--ance with their number,

Word and sign designating a period, this card bearing the numeral 27 and constituting the highest value card of the pack.

As previously explained,' the cards are designed for forming words and sentences in playing, and for this purpose it is obvious that duplicates of the cards described must. be arranged in the pack. For example, and without intending any specific limitation in the particular number of duplicate cards used, I have found it convenient to use five of the E cards; four of the A, 1, O, and U cards; three of the F, L, C 31777 C N, 13,77 (i R, C(v S777 C( 'W )7 C( Y 3, cards; .two of the B, 0, D5, Gn H777. 547;]'77 y 4 1, (C T, C V, i Z 37 period cards; and one each-of the Q and X cards. The pack thus constitutes seventy-two cards, though it is obvious that it may with equal efliciency be made to constitute any number, depending upon the number of duplicates used.

In playing the game for which the cards are particularly designed, the numbers only have a playing value, taking rank in accordmaking the period card, which bears the number 27 the highest value card in the deck. rIhe letters on the cards are to be used in forming words and sentences, the values of said words and sentences constituting the point counting of the game, that is, the score. In playing the game among four or more players the cards are distributed in the usual manner among the players, one card being dealt at a time. Each player will then form as many..words and sentences as possible from the cards in his hand, and after the completion of this operation by all the players, one of the players, generally the dealer,

tional words or sentences if possible afterv which he leads, as before, and the game is continued in this manner until the cards are exhausted. The perlod card having of course the highest value will take any trick,

but cannot be played but once by any one player, this giving the players holding the period card an opportunity to secure derarenteii oet. ai, i913.

' sired letters to *complete a'word or sentence, A but permitting them this advantage with only one trick. If cards of equal numerical value are played upon one trick, the player of the first of such cards is entitled to the trick. When two or three are playing a certain number 'of' cardsl are dealt to each player, as twelve, andafter each trick, each player draws a card from the undealt portion of the deck. In a partnership game, afterleading against opposing hands has been completed, the partners cards may be combined to build additional words, and

words may be exchanged between partners spective scoring items may beused as agreed upon.

From the above it willbe seen that I proi vide a pack of cards which will not only furnish amusement but will prove highly instructive, having a wide range in' the lat- 4ter particular, as for example, a game may be confined to wprdslof a articular character, as for example, wor s used in baseball, eographical words, or others, and the Witnesses:

game in its general form 'can be played by any one. v

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A pack of cards each bearing respectively one of the letters of the alphabet and also bearing a numeral corresponding to the particular sequence number in the alphabet of the letter borne by that card, the playing valuesof the cards being determined solely by their numbers, and the scoring value of the cards being predicated solely upon combinations of the letters borne by the cards.

2. A- pack of cards each bearing respectively one of the letters of the alphabet and alsobearing a numeral corresponding to the particular sequence number in the 'alphabet of the letter .borne by that card, the playing values of the cards being determined solely by their numbers, and the scoring value of the cards being predicated 'solely upon combinations of the letters borne by the cards, and a final card having anumber exceeding any of the. numbers on the letter cards and a sign coperating with any of the combinations of the letter cards.

CHARLES M. NICHOLSON.

D. H. HARPER, A. E; HARPER. 

